Thursday, July 23, 2015

Up at 7. We got ourselves ready, at a nice breakfast, and then checked out. We were on the road by 9. As we checked out, the hotel manager assumed we were there to visit Indiana University, mistaking Melody as a college student! Once on the road, we headed towards Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. Our GPS, which I have a love-hate relationship with, gave us a terrible route to the park. Lots of backroads made for a much more lengthy drive. We finally arrived at 10 after two hours on the road (going from the Eastern Time Zone back to the Central). The time change kept messing me up.... Indiana has too many time zone boundaries! We had a great time at Holiday World! Nice small-town park with world-class coasters. The Raven started us off. It's a fun ride, an old school woodie. We rode up front, and it got our blood flowing. Next, we rode the Legend. There was a long line, probably the longest we saw all day, and the ride had a complication that took one of its trains out of rotation, which kept us waiting in line for 30 minutes. It was a fun coaster, though. The we rode the Voyage. Wow! What a ride! Very tall, very long wooden coaster that gets lost in the woods. Very fast, and seems to go on forever. Just an incredible ride. Moved right into my personal Top 5 favorite coasters. This was also Melody's 100th different roller coaster! (My Top 5 - Millennium Force, Cedar Point; Apollo's Chariot, Busch Gardens; The Voyage; Loch Ness Monster, Busch Gardens; Thunderbolt, Kennywood.)

Had a delicious Thanksgiving lunch in the Thanksgiving section of the park, then we roamed over to the back end of the park and rode the brand new Thunderbird roller coaster. This is a steel launch coaster, which goes quickly from zero to 60 and has a smooth, unique design. Really fun. After riding it twice, we walked over to The Voyage and rode it again. It was so hot, though, so we decided to cut short our day at the park. We rode a few more rides, including the Raven, then shopped for souvenirs, before heading out around 4:30.

We headed east to Corydon, IN, and checked into at Comfort Inn, topping off the gas tank at the next door Shell station. We checked in, freshened up, then had a tasty dinner at the adjacent Frische's Big Boy. Came back to our room and we crashed. Eventually went to bed at 10. Lord, thank you for a really great day! Praying for more good times tomorrow!

Up at 7:30. Melody up later. After breakfast, we finally hit the road at 10:20. On to Louisville, KY, and the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. Neat museum and tour.

Tried finding a place to eat lunch, but construction in and around Louisville and the suburbs made stopping very difficult. Finally stopped at a KFC (where else do stop when you're in Kentucky?). It was not very good, and the place was really dirty. Why is it so many fast food places don't seem to care or respect themselves. I hate fast food for that reason... except Chick-Fil-A. On to Cincinnati. Ironically, we arrived in downtown Cincy just as the Major League Baseball All-Star Festivities were getting going. Wish we could've planned a little better. We drove right past Great American Ballpark. However, the skies got very dark and we had a brief rain storm as we exited downtown. Found our Quality Inn just outside of town, in Blue Ash. After checking in and changing clothes, we went to visit my old friends, Tim & Lisa. Way back in the 90s, Lisa and I worked together at two different churches as youth leaders. She was the youth group director, and I was a counselor. We were a part of a foursome that worked really well together for about 6 years. Lisa and Tim moved to the Cincinnati area, where Lisa grew up, shortly after that, and we've stayed in touch. Tim worked as a steward on Air Force One under President's Reagan, Bush, Sr., and Clinton. Lisa hadn't seen Melody since she was a baby, when she came to my wife Teresa's funeral in 2004. I hadn't seen Tim since 2000, when Teresa and I were on one of our cross-country adventures. Really nice to see my old friends! They took us to Skyline Chili for dinner. Melody loved it! They treated us right and gave us a grab-bag of goodies.

After we ate, we went back to their place to gab for a while, then we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel. We checked in with my mother (Grammy), who was sitting with Faithful Pup Scout, back at home. At our hotel, we went to bed at around 11, after watching a good bit of the All-Star game. Lord, thanks! Prayers for a great day tomorrow! Thanks for a wonderful day!

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Favorite Quotations

Matthew 16:23 - "But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.'"

Isaiah 41:10 - "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

1 Peter 5:10 - "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

1 Thessalonians 4:13 - "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope."

Titus 2:7-8 - "In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."

John 15:13 - "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

Joshua 24:15 - "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

James 1:2-4 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Philippians 4:8 - "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

Luke 2:14 - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

"Don't judge a man by where he is, because you don't know how far he has come." - C.S. Lewis

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence." - George Washington

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein

"You don't lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The future starts today, not tomorrow." -- Pope John Paul II

"No man is a failure who has friends." - Clarence the Angel, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

"Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It's a good life; enjoy it." - Jim Henson